Theftproof display cabinet

ABSTRACT

The disclosure in this application is of a cabinet for articles such as cartridge tapes which includes a series of shelves or compartments on which the cartridge tapes are displayed and a transparent wall in front of said compartments and which has holes therein of a size to permit a customer&#39;&#39;s hand to pass through the same, the front wall being disposed at a distance from said compartment to permit a hand to pass through such holes and grasp and inspect a cartridge tape, the holes being too small to permit a cartridge tape to be passed through the same, and the purchaser, after examining the cartridge tape may replace the same on a shelf, or if he wishes to purchase it, to drop it to the bottom of the display rack from where it may be removed by a sales person without removing said transparent front wall.

United States Patent Inventors Frank E. Szobski 4808 Transit Road, Buffalo, 14221; Leonard Silver, 1790 Main St., Buffalo,

N.Y. [4208 Appl. No. 842,952 Filed July 18, 1969 Patented Apr. 20, 1971 THEFIPROOF DISPLAY CABINET Primary ExaminerPatrick D. Lawson Att0mey-Sammer, Weber & Gastel ABSTRACT: The disclosure in this application is of a cabinet for articles such as cartridge tapes which includes a series of shelves or compartments on which the cartridge tapes are displayed and a transparent wall in front of said compartments and which has holes therein of a size to permit a customers hand to pass through the same, the front wall being disposed at a distance from said compartment to permit a hand to pass through such holes and grasp and inspect a cartridge tape, the holes being too small to permit a cartridge tape to be passed through the same, and the purchaser, after examining the cartridge tape may replace the same on a shelf, or if he wishes to purchase it, to drop it to the bottom of the display rack from where it may be removed by a sales person without removing said transparent front wall.

PATENTEU APR 2 0 [an WW A NND NW ATTORNEYS.

One object of this invention is to provide a display cabinet with a transparent front wall having hand holes therein to permit a purchaser to inspect a cartridge tape without removing the same through any of said holes and to drop the cartridge tape if he wishes to purchase the same so that the cartridge tape may be removed from the bottom of the cabinet by a sales person without exposing the other cartridge tapes in the cabinet.

Another object is to provide a cabinet of this type having a transparent front wall with holes therein through which a purchasers hand may be inserted to select an article from a cabinet and drop the same if he wishes to purchase it, and a small door at the lower end of the cabinet through which the article may be removed.

Another object is to provide a cabinet of this type with a removable front wall through which articles to be sold may be positioned on compartments on the rear wall and a door through which articles selected by a purchaser may be removed, the door being connected with the front wall to lock the front wall against removal when the door is locked.

in the accompanying drawings:

HG. l is a front view of a cabinet embodying this invention.

l'r'llG. 2 is a vertical, sectional view thereof on line 2-2, FIG. 1.

H6. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the lower door and its locking connection with the upper door of the cabinet.

HG. d is a fragmentary rear view of the front wall showing the lock for the door and the front wall.

The cabinet is provided with a rear wall 110 provided with 1 any desired number of compartments ll which are made of a size to hold a plurality of articles to be sold, such for example as cartridge tapes. The cabinet is provided with a front wall l2 removably secured to the cabinet. The front wall is made of a transparent material and is provided with a large number of holes to of a size to enable a purchasers hand to pass through these holes. The front wall is spaced from the compartments in the rear wall a sufficient distance so that a prospective purchaser may pass his hand through any of the holes in the front wall and select a cartridge tape or other article and inspect it through the transparent front wall. The holes lb are of such size that the purchaser's hand may readily pass through the same, but these holes are too small to permit an article to be purchased, such as a cartridge tape, to pass through the holes.

The front wall and the compartments are enclosed with a top wall lid and sidewalls 2d, and there is also provided a bottom wall 22 on which the articles to be purchased may be dropped. A cushion 24 may be provided on the bottom wall to prevent damage to any article dropped on the bottom wall.

There is also provided below the front wall 12 a small door 2b which is hinged at its lower edge at 28 and which affords access to the bottom 22 of the cabinet so that this door may be opened to remove from the space above the bottom any articles which have been dropped by a prospective purchaser. The lower door as may be suitably locked in any desired manner, for example, by means of a cylinder lock 3d having an arm 32 which may engage a fixed part of the cabinet, such for errample, as the bottom wall 22 of the cabinet. Any other means for locking the small lower door 26 may be provided.

Means are also preferably provided for locking the front wall 112 of the cabinet. This may be effected in any desired manner and in the construction shown the front wall is provided with a series of hooks 3b which may hoolt over the pins 38 secured on a sidewall of the cabinet. By means of these books the upper wall of door i2 may be removed by lifting the same so that the hooks 3h disengage the pins 3b. In order to prevent the unauthorized removal of the front wall 12, l have provided means by which the raising of the front wall can be accomplished by releasing the lower door 2h. For this purpose the front wall 12 is provided on the inner face thereof with a downwardiy extending metal strip dd have a pin 12 secured thereon, and the lower door as has a hole therein into which the pin 42 enters when the lower door and front wall are in correct positionsas shown in FIG. 3, so that when the pin 42 enters into the hole or opening 414 in the lower door, upward movement of the front wall 12 is prevented. By means of this arrangement the locking of the lower door controls the locking of the front wall 12, and when the lower door is opened and swung downwardly about its hinge 2b the upper wall will be free to move upwardly to disengage the hooks as from the pins 3% so that the wall can be removed and all compartments in the rear wall will be accessible for refilling with articles to be sold.

ln the use of the cabinet described it will be obvious that a prospective customer can insert one or both of his hands through any of the holes 16 in the front wall and select an article from any compartment 11, and if he has found any that he wishes to purchase, he drops it down to the lower wall 22 of the cabinet. A salesperson may then unlock the door 26 and swing it about its hinge 28 to remove the selected article, and then can again lock the door. In this way the front wall 12 remains locked to protect the articles in the compartments from unauthorized removal. When the lower door is swung upwardly into locking position, the pin 42 will enter the hole 44 in the lower door so that the front wall can again be locked.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An article display cabinet including front and backwalls, said backwall having a series of compartments of a size to hold the articles to be sold and open toward the front wall, said front wall being of a transparent material and having holes wherein through which a hand of a purchaser may be passed but small enough to prevent passage there through of the articles to be sold, said front wall and said compartments being spaced apart to permit inspection of an article when held in a hand and removed from a compartment, and removal means for permitting removal of a selected article from said cabinet.

2. A display cabinet according to claim 1 and'including space below said compartments into which an article to be purchased may be dropped, said removal means comprising means for restricted access to said space to remove dropped articles from said cabinet.

3. A display cabinet according to claim 1 and including space below said compartments into which an article to be purchased may be dropped, and a door in the front of the cabinet below said front wall which may be opened to remove an article from said cabinet.

4. A display cabinet according to claim 3 including means connecting said door and said front wall to hold said front wall in locked position when said door is locked.

5. A cabinet according to claim 1 and including hooks for suspending said front wall from said cabinet, and means for removably holding said front wall on said hooks.

d. A cabinet according to claim l and including hooks for suspending said front wall from said cabinet and a locking connection between said door and said front wall and holding said front wall in a locked position in said cabinet.

7. A cabinet for displaying articles comprising a transparent wall, article-holding means within said cabinet for holding said articles, hole means in said cabinet of a size to permit passage of the hand of a purchaser into said cabinet while preventing passage of said articles therethrough out of said cabinet to permit inspection of said articles through said transparent wall while said articles are being held in the hand of a purchaser within the cabinet, and removal means for permitting removal of articles from said cabinet.

d. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 7 wherein said holes are in said transparent wall.

9. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 7 and a space extending downwardly below said article-holding 11. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 10 including cushion means on the bottom of said cabinet onto which said articles to be removed from said cabinet are dropped.

mg? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION A ril 20 1971 Patent No. 3 478 Da ted p Frank E. Szobski and Leonard Silver Inventofls) i It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, lines 44 and 45, (claim 2) change "comprising means for" to -permitting-; line 49, (claim 3) after the comma, change "and" to -said removable means comprising.

Signed and sealed this 3rd day of August 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDNARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

1. An article display cabinet including front and backwalls, said backwall having a series of compartments of a size to hold the articles to be sold and open toward the front wall, said front wall being of a transparent material and having holes wherein through which a hand of a purchaser may be passed but small enough to prevent passage there through of the articles to be sold, said front wall and said compartments being spaced apart to permit inspection of an article when held in a hand and removed from a compartment, and removal means for permitting removal of a selected article from said cabinet.
 2. A display cabinet according to claim 1 and including space below said compartments into which an article to be purchased may be dropped, said removal means comprising means for restricted access to said space to remove dropped articles from said cabinet.
 3. A display cabinet according to claim 1 and including space below said compartments into which an article to be purchased may be dropped, and a door in the front of the cabinet below said front wall which may be opened to remove an article from said cabinet.
 4. A display cabinet according to claim 3 including means connecting said door and said front wall to hold said front wall in locked position when said door is locked.
 5. A cabinet according to claim 1 and including hooks for suspending said front wall from said cabinet, and means for removably holding said front wall on said hooks.
 6. A cabinet according to claim 1 and including hooks for suspending said front wall from said cabinet and a locking connection between said door and said front wall and holding said front wall in a locked position in said cabinet.
 7. A cabinet for displaying articles comprising a transparent wall, article-holding means within said cabinet for holding said articles, hole means in said cabinet of a size to permit passage of the hand of a purchaser into said cabinet while preventing passage of said articles therethrough out of said cabinet to permit inspection of said articles through said transparent wall while said articles are being held in the hand of a purchaser within the cabinet, and removal means for permitting removal of articles from said cabinet.
 8. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 7 wherein said holes are in said transparent wall.
 9. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 7 and a space extending downwardly below said article-holding means and into which an article being held may be dropped preparatory to being removed from said cabinet through said removal means.
 10. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 9 wherein said removal means comprises a door at the lower portion of said cabinet.
 11. A cabinet for displaying articles as set forth in claim 10 including cushion means on the bottom of said cabinet onto which said articles to be removed from said cabinet are dropped. 